Snape, Voldemort and the DADA position

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 165828

Bobby:

> In terms of Voldemort... even though he is the 
> opposite of Dumbledore (in terms of being suspicious 
> and non-trusting), it makes perfect sense that Snape 
> is able to deceive him because his major weakness is 
> his pride. He would NEVER believe that anyone could 
> hide things from him. Doesn't he always say "I always 
> know when people are lying"?? He is so prideful in his 
> Legilimency abilities, he cannot fathom that Snape is 
> lying to him. This more than anything to me argues for 
> Snape being on the "good" side.

houyhnhnm:

That makes a lot of sense.  Voldemort's pride, his 
self-centeredness, and his inability to understand 
love or altruism as a motive for others' behavior 
are all of a piece and they are all weaknesses.

Bobby:

> WHY does everyone covet the Defense Against the 
> Dark Arts job??? Voldemort, Snape... there seems 
> to be an inordinate amount of interest in this 
> job from these two people who are in love with 
> the Dark Arts- why do they want to teach a "Defense" 
> class? Is there some sort of power or secret related 
> to Hogwarts that the DADA teacher is privy to?

houyhnhnm:

Dumbledore ascribed that motive to Tom.

"Secondly, the castle is a stronghold of ancient 
magic.  Undoubtedly Voldemort had penetrated many 
more of its secrets than most of the students who 
pass through the place, but he may have felt that 
there were still mysteries to unravel, stores of magic to tap."

I don't know about power or secrets accruing 
automatically to the holder of the DADA position, 
though.  It's logical that since the DADA professor 
is offically responsible for handling dark objects 
and breaking curses, the holder of that office would 
be privy to secrets the other faculty are not, but it 
doesn't seem to have benefited Lockhart much.  He 
remained pretty much incompetent at anything other 
than memory charms. 

I suspect Snape privately hankered after the challenge 
of the DADA position, but I'm not sure he really 
applied for it every year in earnest.  I think that 
may have been a rumor circulated by Dumbledore.  
But that's because I am a DDM!Snaper.